A Cymanfa Ganu[1] (Welsh pronunciation: [kəˈmanva ˈɡanɨ],
Singing Festival), is a Welsh festival of sacred hymns, sung with four
part harmony by a congregation, usually under the direction of a
choral director.
In Wales, more than a thousand
Cymanfa Ganu are held each year. These
take place in virtually every village and town in Wales, except for
parts of Monmouthshire and south east Wales. Many villages and towns
have more than one
Cymanfa Ganu a year, as often many separate chapels
in towns and villages hold their own. Some large annual ones occur
event in some chapels and take place at festivals such as the National
EisteddfodEisteddfod of
WalesWales and the Llangollen International Musical
Eisteddfod. Some are occasionally held in theatres and concert halls.
Cymanfa Ganus are held across the world - wherever people of Welsh
heritage live, significantly in Patagonia ( Argentina) e.g. Trelew,
Gaiman, where there were significant Welsh settlements from the 19th
Century. In some of these areas Welsh is still spoken as a main
language in daily use, usually together with Spanish. Outside Wales,
in the UK there are
Cymanfa Ganu in London, parts of the West Midlands
and other areas where there are still chapels using the medium of
Welsh .
The
Cymanfa Ganu is one of the unique features of Welsh culture and
its preservation is being supported by a number of Welsh cultural
associations, such as the New Zealand National Gymanfa Ganu
Association and the
Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association (North
America).
North American Gymanfa Ganu[edit]
Once a year, a four-day North American Festival of
WalesWales (a Gymanfa
Ganu, commonly just referred to as a National) is held in North
America over the
Labor DayLabor Day weekend. The four-day festival opens on
Thursday night with a Noson Lawen, which some call a Welsh Amateur
Night. The weekend continues with an evening banquet on Friday and a
Saturday concert, generally featuring a Welsh male voice choir and
soloists, both from Wales.
Sunday is the defining day of the four-day festival which begins with
a bilingual church and memorial service. After a brief intermission,
this service is followed by afternoon and evening sessions of the
Gymanfa Ganu itself. A unique feature of the gymanfa ganu is the
seating separation of alto, soprano, tenor, and bass singers into
sections for the four part harmony singing. And while the Gymanfa Ganu
is conducted with the dignity of a church service, it is not unknown
for the musical conductor to stop the singing when one or more of the
voice sections wanders from the desired harmony and needs special
attention.
Interspersed between the formal proceedings are frequent sessions of
spontaneous singing of favorite hymns. A Welsh Marketplace, offering
Welsh products, artifacts, souvenirs, recordings, and books, is also
available during the days of the festival.
The
Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association is the main organizational
body responsible for putting on the event.
See also[edit]

List of music festivals in the United Kingdom

References[edit]

^ Gymanfa Ganu is sometimes used, due to the complexities of consonant
mutation in the Welsh language, which leads to the initial ⟨c⟩
being mutated to a ⟨g⟩ when preceded by the Welsh word for the.
The Welsh plural is Cymanfaoedd Canu.